Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem
Robot Wars: Metal Mayhem was the very first Robot Wars video game to be created. For the Game Boy Color, it was based around the third series of Robot Wars and featured competitors from that series. Features The game itself featured several different modes. The first of these was the Robot Workshop mode, which allowed players to build their own robots from several choices of components and categories, divided into Chassis, Motors, Gear Ratios, and a Weapon (From a choice of either a Pneumatic Spike, an Axe, a Flipper, or a Circular Saw). The next mode was the Grudge Match mode, which allowed the player to select a robot to control and an opponent to fight in a standard one-on-one battle, with best of three results. This, in turn, linked to the War Zone mode, which was the same as the Grudge Matches, except the player's opponents were preselected, and eight of them had to be fought and beaten in a row to win. One hit knock outs included being flipped by an arena spike or falling into the pit of oblivion. Otherwise, robots had to wear down their opponent's hit point gauge through attacks, arena hazards or House Robots. Finally, there was a Trials mode, which consisted of a variety of challenges that the player could do. These consisted of the Gauntlet, Sumo, Skittles, and the Slalom, a new event in which a robot had to navigate a path across the arena to the end zone, whilst avoiding periodic bursts of flame which erupted from the floor. Differences between game and show *Dead Metal was featured as pink and grey, rather than the all grey appearance he had on the show. This was most likely inspired by Dead Metal's original lobster-esque colour scheme, and to add some colour to the game. *The pit is four times its normal size. Arena spikes are also heavily enlarged, most likely to make them visible in the miniature game. *The flame pits have been merged into one large flame pit that sits in the centre of the arena. If a robot drives onto the flames, their health will deteriorate rapidly. *The arena floor flipper is omitted from the game. *House Robots are unable to leave their CPZs. This is due to the fact that a robot is automatically eliminated if immobilised, and breakdowns are not a part of the game. *Flippers or lifters are unable to flip opponents over, merely flap up and down whilst whittling down an opponent's health. The only way to flip an opponent is via the floor spikes, Matilda or Shunt. *X-Terminator appears in a plain silver colour scheme similar to its Series 4 incarnation, X-Terminator 2, rather than the red and orange version in Series 3, which the game is based off. *Self-righting mechanisms are omitted from the game, due to the instant KO from being flipped. *Several robots undergo weapons enhancement: **Sir Chromalot's and Milly-Ann Bug's static weapons are turned into retracting spears. **Scutter's Revenge's scoop is enlarged and given the ability to lift. **Crasha Gnasha's saw is enlargened, but its thwackbot hammer is omitted due to the limited degree of movement. **Purple Predator's flipper is reduced in size - the hinge is further up the robot, not at the tip of the wedge. Errors *Thermador features in the game, but under the name Thermidor 2. *Only two dimensions are given for robots, most likely length and width. *Crasha Gnasha is purple in the arena, rather than blue like its real-life counterpart and menu artwork. Reception The game proved very unpopular with reviewers and fans of the show, due to the awkward controls, lack of notable competitiors (many of the featured robots did not progress past the first two rounds of their respective heats), no effective or unique weaponry (Flipping robots, including Chaos 2, Diotoir and Firestorm could not flip opponents, for example), minimal levels of customisation on player-built robots, and poor graphics, even by Game-Boy standards. Credits *Graphics Bryan King, Kevin Knott, Gary Kennedy, TagMonkeys *Lead Programmer: Chris Erunning *Production: Chris Erunning *Production Assistant: Gary Marshall *Sound Effects: Mark Ortiz Category:Video Games